Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Mosaic Reviews: EEME Genius Light Project Review

My 10 year old son has loved electricity for a long time. I wonder if it has to do with shocking people? But seriously, when he found out we were going to review a do-it-yourself electronics kit, he was more than excited.

Each project comes with online access to video tutorials that take you through a series of activities and quizzes. It tells you exactly what to do and when. There is no guessing about what comes next. Even as a very non-mechanical mommy, I was able to sit down with my son and figure out what we were supposed to do.

Completed Genius Light Project

(photo supplied by EEME)

What we liked:

Promotes parent and child interaction. Yes, your older child could probably do this project on their own, but it was great to work along side my son on this project. Since he's had more experience with these kind of things, he corrected me on how to do certain things.

Easy step-by-step instructions

As an educator, I loved the video lessons. They were truly teaching concepts, not just directions on a final project. My son had to put components together for a specific concept and then take it apart again before moving on. We did this several times to learn the basic ideas of electrical circuitry.

Video lessons were short and detailed. I LOVED it when he would tell parents, "You might need to help your child here." It helps those parents that might not know when it's appropriate to help in a project like this. No danger of taking over!

Assessment of learning. After every mini-project was completed, there would be a short quiz to make sure the student understood the fundamentals.

Daniel says: "I thought this was really cool! I liked how they showed it with really clear instructions and explanations about things."

What we struggle with:

More than one of my kids wanted to do this project. It would be great if EEME in the future could offer a discount package for parents wanting to buy multiple kits or monthly subscriptions.

"We offer monthly subscriptions for our electronics project kits. Each
subscription will come with a new kit every month complete with all the
electronic components needed to build a new project.

Each month's project builds on the
previous month's knowledge and
interactive quizzes reinforce kids' understanding of the why's and
the how's. Our goal is to provide a curricula that will teach kids the
fundamentals of electronics, while fostering their curiosity and
critical thinking skills." (quote from EEME)